TITLE: It’s Time to Grow Up

TEXT: I Corinthians 3:1-9THEME: Put away the things that keeping you from growing up.

Years of research have gone in to finding ways to help these people

function in life with the realization that some may never fully develop

independence.

Years of research have gone in to finding ways to help these people

function in life with the realization that some may never fully

development toward independence .

The Bible speaks of a similar kind of developmental disability in the spiritual

realm.

What is required for a believer to grow up in his faith?

I. Live by the Spirit of God (1-4)

I Corinthians 3:1-4

1. Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly —mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready

I Corinthians 3:1-4

3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

Romans 8:1-4

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh

Romans 8:1-4

“God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

I. Live by the Spirit of God (1-4)

A. Not as worldly

Three conditions of believers

• Infants: New believers eager to grow and mature. Like newborns we do not expect them to live like mature believers- but we do expect them to grow.

Three conditions of believers

• Infants: New believers eager to grow and mature. Like newborns we do not expect them to live like mature believers- but we do expect them to grow.

• Carnal: Established believers claiming to follow Christ but are worldly. They live like mere humans who do not have the Spirit.

Three conditions of believers• Infants: New believers eager to grow and mature.

Like newborns we do not expect them to live like mature believers- but we do expect them to grow.

• Carnal: Established believers claiming to follow Christ but are worldly. They live like mere humans who do not have the Spirit.

• Spiritual: These believers walk in the Spirit of God and are eternity minded. They live moment by moment conversing with God, reflecting on His Word and living for His glory.

I. Live by the Spirit of God (1-4)

A. Not as worldly B. Spirituality requires time in devotion to God.

What is required for a believer to grow up in his faith?

II. Learn and Apply the Word of God

Ephesians 5: 18-21

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Colossians 3:16-17

“16 Let the word of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

II. Learn and Apply the Word of God

A. More than the Elementary Teachings (Hebrews 5:11-6:2)

Hebrews 5:11-14

“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food

Hebrews 5:11-14

“13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity…”

II. Learn and Apply the Word of God

A. More than the Elementary Teachings (Hebrews 5:11-6:2)B. The Deep Things of God (I Cor. 2:10-16)

I Corinthians 2:10-14

“10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us

I Corinthians 2:10-14

13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

James 1:22-24

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

I Corinthians 8:

“We all possess knowledge. But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God.”

What is required for a believer to grow up in his faith?

III. To be a co-worker in God’s Service (5-9)

I Corinthians 3:5-9

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow

I Corinthians 3:5-9

8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

III. To be a co-worker in God’s Service (5-9)

A. We all have assigned tasks.

III. To be a co-worker in God’s Service (5-9)

A. We all have assigned tasks. B. Only God makes our efforts productive.

I Corinthians 13:8-11

“8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.”

I Corinthians 13:8-11

“11 When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”

III. To be a co-worker in God’s Service (5-9)

A. We all have assigned tasks. B. Only God makes our efforts productiveC. Our reward is based on our faithfulness

APPLICATION

1. Has your spiritual life come to a standstill? Determine before God to focus your thoughts on eternal things. Spend time in prayer, spend time in his Word.

APPLICATION

2. Spend time faithfully using the gifts God has given you by serving others.

APPLICATION

3. In your prayers bring your anger, your failures, and your gossip before God. Ask Him to help you continue in your growth and to use you.

4. Grow Up.

• There is a time in your Christian journey where you should no longer be dependent on the constant encouragement and feeding of others to move forward

4. Grow Up.

• There is a time in your Christian journey where you should no longer be dependent on the constant encouragement and feeding of others to move forward.

• There should be a time were the focus is no longer on serving you but for you to serve others

4. Grow Up.

• There is a time in your Christian journey where you should no longer be dependent on the constant encouragement and feeding of others to move forward.

• There should be a time were the focus is no longer on serving you but for you to serve others.

• There comes a time where you feed and clothe yourself and then even help others

4. Grow Up. • There is a time in your Christian journey where

you should no longer be dependent on the constant encouragement and feeding of others to move forward.

• There should be a time were the focus is no longer on serving you but for you to serve others.

• There comes a time where you feed and clothe yourself and then even help others.

• There should come a time where you are no longer the consumer but the provider.

When we come to Christ, he restores our spiritual vision. But just like the man in this

story had to learn to see through a long process,

Just as the man in this story had to learn to distinguish or discern reality with his new

sight, followers of Christ must enter a lifelong process of

learning to discern good and evil, obedience and

disobedience.